


A Second Chance

by WhiteHawkHarringrove



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Back Pain, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Confused Billy Hargrove, Hurt Billy Hargrove, M/M, Past minor character death, Protective Steve Harrington
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-06-22 03:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15572559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteHawkHarringrove/pseuds/WhiteHawkHarringrove
Summary: Three years after the second Demogorgon attack, Billy is attacked in an alleyway and a mysterious brunet that he hasn't seen in three years saves him.





	1. Saviour in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> A thought that came into my head

Billy Hargrove was drunk. He was drunk and getting the shit kicked out of him in an alley. He heard the laughing and sneering of the people beating him but he didn't know what they were saying. He must've gotten a hard hit to the head. 

Suddenly he heard a scuffle but didn't feel the fists raining down on him anymore. He opened his eyes, the people who had been attacking him were getting their asses kicked by one person. The unidentified person dropped the three men like it was nothing.

“Billy?” A blurry brunet asked, the voice sounded familiar but he couldn't match it to the blurry face that hovered over him.

“Wha' who're you?” Billy slurred, trying to concentrate on the face. He winced as he felt a hand graze over a cut on his forehead. 

“We'll talk about that later, can you stand?” The person asked. Billy tried to get up but slumped back against the brick building. He just realized that was nighttime, the only thing illuminating the alley was the street lamps a few meters back by the street.

“Okay, I'm going to help you to my car. I know you're tired but you can sleep when we get to the car, okay?” The voice asked, Billy hadn't noticed his eyes slipping closed. He nodded groggily and felt a lean arm wrap around his waist and a bony hand grab his arm and sling it around the shoulders of a thin body. He was dragged out to a car and placed into the passenger seat, it was at this point that he lost consciousness. 

“Steve, what the hell happened?” Billy heard a voice ask as he regained awareness. He groaned. Steve? THE Steve? 

“I don't know, Dustin, I was heading home and I saw a scuffle in the alley,” Steve told the other person, who now had a name. Billy opened his eyes, he was in a small bed. The room was pretty bare, no posters or picture frames.

“Hello?” Billy called out, voice hoarse. A minute later the door opened and the light was turned on, it barely gave enough light to see anything. He saw the scarred face of Steve Harrington appear in his line of view, followed by the curly-haired Dustin Henderson. 

“You're awake... how are you feeling?” Steve asked. Billy looked up at Steve, frowning.

“Hurt,” Billy stated. Steve let out a chuckle, reaching out to Billy's forehead. Billy hissed when Steve peeled of a bandage on his forehead. 

“Sorry,” Steve apologized and grabbed something out from a fanny pack looking bag that was on the bed. Billy looked at the navy blue attire Steve was wearing. “So... after three years, what is the great Billy Hargrove doing with his life?”

“I took over my father's business, he died two years ago. What about you, Harrington? And why is Henderson with you?” Billy asked, quickly changing the subject. Steve and Dustin exchanged a look and Dustin exited the room. 

“I finished school to become a paramedic. I'm Dustin's guardian now, his mom was killed a couple days after you beat the ever loving shit out of me,” Steve told Billy, who frowned again, this time guiltily. He threw off the covers, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Woah, you shouldn't try to get up just yet, you have a concussion.”

Steve pushed Billy gently back into bed as he frowned.

“Wait... this looks like a really small apartment, whose bed am I in?” Billy asked, Steve chuckled.

“Mine,” Steve told him, placing a new bandage on his head and getting up to leave.

“Wait! Why are you helping me? I almost killed you!” Billy asked.

“But you didn't,” Steve stated and walked out, turning off the light.


	2. Making Up for the Years We Both Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve chats with Dustin regarding Billy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Running In My Lobby

Steve exited the room, heading down the hall towards the small living room. Dustin looked up at him when he entered.

“Why are you giving me that look, kid? I'm just doing my job,” Steve told him, Dustin raised his eyebrows.

“So this isn't about you being gay and having a crush on him since he moved to Hawkins?” Dustin asked. Steve sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I knew I shouldn't have told you that,” he muttered under his breath, “Seriously, even if it was, what am I going to say, huh? Hey Billy, I kinda like you even though you beat my face in and left me permanently scarred and because of you I'll probably have nightmares for the rest of my life, but do you want to go out sometime? Let's go get some tuna.”

“Tuna?”

“First thing that popped into my head,” Steve sighed, popping off the cap of a beer and taking a swig, flopping down on the old couch beside Dustin. Steve batted away his hand when he reached for the beer.

“Oh, come on, Steve! You drank when you were my age!” Dustin protested.

“Yeah, and it was a big mistake,” Steve replied, ruffling his hair. They started laughing together and when they finally quieted down, Dustin switched back to the previous subject.

“You realize that if you don't tell him now you might never see him again and then regret never telling him how you really felt, right?” Steve just sighed, flicking Dustin's hat off.

“You talk too much, you know that?” Steve asked, though his words held no anger, only an incredible fondness for the kid. Inside he knew that Dustin was right, but how would he tell Billy? Maybe he wouldn't remember because of the concussion? Steve looked at his watch. “Shouldn't you be in bed? You have school tomorrow.”

“Since when do I have a curfew,” Dustin asked sarcastically, but got up. Steve gave him a gentle shove towards the hallway. “And you have work tomorrow, how you going to work around that, Mr. Mom?”

“I'll call my boss in the morning and work something out, now go,” Steve laughed, Dustin stopped and turned.

“Where are you going to sleep?” Dustin asked, Steve patted the couch.

“Right here, I'm used to crashing on the couch after long shifts anyway,” Steve told the kid. Dustin shook his head at the obvious lie, Steve had fractured his spine the year before and had surgery for it, now he had a special mattress for his back. 

“Whatever you say, Steve,” Dustin reluctantly agreed, walking towards his room. Steve turned on the TV and lowered the volume, watching the crappy movie that he hadn't taken out of the VCR. Before he knew it, the movie had ended and he was left, sitting in the almost pitch black room. There was nothing illuminating the room but static from the TV. He got up, turned the knob so it was off and headed towards the room Billy was in to check on him one last time before he went to sleep.

There was a night light in the corner giving off a soft orange glow, Steve hadn't been able to sleep in the dark since the night that the girl closed the gate to the hell on earth that was also under Hawkins. 

Billy's eyes opened and watched him as he approached the bed. 

“What the hell happened to you all?” Billy asked softly. Steve sat on the edge of the bed.

“Like I said, Dustin's mom died a few years ago, I was left as his guardian, I worked to become a paramedic, I finished last year but within the first two months on the field, I fractured my spine when a patient tackled me to the ground. I was out of a job for 6 months recovering, the kids helped me out a lot and got me back on my feet, that's why I'm currently living in this shitty apartment,” Steve explained. Before Billy could respond, Steve spoke again, “ You should probably get some sleep if nothing is hurting you right now.”

Billy shook his head gently then laid it on the pillow.

“Goodnight, Billy.”

“Goodnight, Pretty-boy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Do you want more chapters?


End file.
